Editing the cover pictures

To edit my pictures I decided to use what i believe to be the most advanced image editor - Adobe Photoshop. I thought this may be best as I know that many professional companies use this to edit all sorts of images for their products etc so if they use it, it must be of an advanced programme and can create high standard pictures.

The Photoshoot

Before i could begin putting my cover together i needed to take the photo that would fill the entire page for the cover of my magazine. I deliberated over what and who to take a photo of and finally made the decision of myself being on the main cover and asked my friend Natalie to take the photos for me.
I found a large black piece of card to use as the background as I didn't want any interference in the picture - i wanted a solid colour behind me in the photo so i could put text overlapping it and it wouldnt have to fit with the many potential shades and objects in the background if i didn't make it a solid colour. I couldve taken a picture with things in the background and edited it on photoshop but i thought if i did that then a solid colour immediately around a real life picture would look a bit odd and unprofessional and maybe even slightly amateur looking and that's not what i want my magazine to be like - i want it to look real and convincing. I chose to have a black background as i knew my fonts would be brightly coloured and by having a dark background they would really stand out from it and would have no way of blending in or clashing with the colour of the background.
Before i could begin taking any pictures, i had to decide on make-up styles and clothing. I already knew the eye make-up would have to be the feature that stood out the most so decided to research some examples as it's not the way i ever do my own make-up. I used the search engine Google to look for inspiration for my eye make-up and searched 'colourful eye makeup' which featured a YouTube video consisting of a montage of different make-up styles that had already been created. These are a few examples of what i found;


This example i found clearly has a wide variation of colours that have been used which is what i wanted. I like the way that the colours aren't precise or have any symmetry and incorporate just about every colour that is available and the way not only the eye is covered but rather all the way to the eyebrow really emphasises the eyes and enables more colour to be used. Also I like the pink gloss used on the lips as its a normal colour people would wear but still manages to stand out. I want to use the technique of making the colours blend together and using different bold colours as that is the main theme of the entire magazine as obviously that is what is most associated with rave.


This is another example I like not only for the bright colours but i like the way each different colour of the eye shadow is applied in horizontal lines straight over the eye like a sort of rainbow pattern but with alternative colours. The only aspect i dont like about this example is that the lines dont blend which looks a bit artificial and probably wont be something i use in my own design.



In my final example I think most of my inspiration will be influenced by this design as it's my favourite one but not only that, i think it uses the colours the most effectivley and also blends them together in the same pattern on both eyes. I will also use eyeshadow all the way to the brow and use the colours yellow, orange, blue and green but not so much the coloured eyelashes as i believe this prevents the colours on the lid from standing out as much as they would against black eyeliner and mascara.

The next aspect of the photoshoot planning is the clothing I would be wearing. I knew this also had to be something quite colourful and found a recently bought bright pink tshirt with a white and blue sequined design of a bird at the top. I thought this would look more effective than wearing just a plain tshirt as I was posing as a made up famous celebrity and thats not the sort of thing they would wear if they would be appearing on the front cover of a magazine.

The only thing left to do after that was to take the pictures. Here are a few of the original copies of the shots we took which I think worked best;


I think this picture works quite well, but I'm not too keen on the angle of it and it doesn't leave much room around the edges for writing that i dont want to make stand out and avoid overlapping onto the picture. Although i could edit it to make more of the background it wouldnt work around the part where my shoulders touch the edge of the picture as there would be a sort of black border around as you can't just add more of my body to it on the computer because I'd need an actual picture of it rather than being able to computer generate more of my shoulders. This would surely prevent it from looking professional at all.



Well for a start this picture makes me look way to sinister and that is not the feeling i want to give off on the front page of my magazine. Also the shot is too up close and again I couldnt put much writing on it that wouldnt overlap with the picture and I want my picture to fill the entire front page from corner to corner as I have noticed from my research that it makes the magazine look so much more real and professional if you use a high quality image. The last thing i dont like about this picture is my hair - its all over the place which effects the professional look and looks messy. Although i could edit it to improve this i don't intend to make my picture look rediculously edited as its not a beauty magazine but i still dont want it to have someone on the cover with messy hair.


This is my 3rd, final and favourite picture out of the bunch. I like the way my make-up is clearly displayed and my facial expression is neither moody nor happy which is what i wanted. I also like the angle as the clothing I have on is in view and the camera is looking down on me, creating the feeling that the cover star is not trying to look down on the reader but rather the reader is looking down on them. The last thing i like about this picture is the background is proportioned well and leaves a nice clear space for the title of my magazine and one of the story lines. By having it on plain black this will allow it to stand out more than the writing that will cover the rest of the page. This allows the magazine title to stand out clearly as its probably one of the most important aspects of the front cover itself.

Cover Drafts

Creating My Logo

Like the examples I have just studied I want to make my design simplistic yet effective. I don't want to use a plain font that won't represent what I'm trying to target and grab my audiences attention. So to do this i will produce all my examples in vibrant colours on a dark background - just as it would be seen on the cover of my magazine.

First of all, I'm immediately drawn to the blue logo. I don't think I'll use this font at all as its too rounded and gives an immature and childish feel to the word and that's not what I'm looking for.

Magazine Logos - Research and Planning

The next step to creating my own magazine was thinking of a name for it. Surprisingly, this came to me quite quickly. I began thinking of words or phrases that linked to raves and a few came to mind such as;

• Glow - As in glowsticks or the lights you see at raves. This is something i thought that a raver could relate to and if they seen it they would immediately know what the magazine will entail. I could of maybe shortened it to 'Glo' to put a modern and quirky twist onto it. I didn't think it was a very exciting name and could be sound like a name for a womens magazine as people use the word 'glowing' to compliment someones appearance and I want the name of my magazine to be specific and unable to be confused with another possible genre.
• Techno - which is a type of music played at a rave that has no words and a strong bassline. obviously again people into this genre would relate to it and i could also misspell the word to make 'Tekno' or 'Teckno' to put my own spin on it. Yet again i can think of something people could become confused about if all they heard was the name. They might assume its a magazine about Technology or gadgets which would decrease the amount of people that would be interested in my magazine - if it were a real one.
• DJ - yet again something to do with a rave. DJs mix the music and would be a recognizable symbol for ravers. I also thought i could use a similar to idea to a previous magazine i researched with a similar name called 'i-D' magazine and i could of styled mine on that idea e.g 'd-J' magazine but it doesnt really look as effective and would just be copying another magazines ideas. But then again once i thought about it you can get DJs at many events not just raves - e.g. Weddings, on the radio, in clubs playing all sorts of music. So this wouldn't be a very specific name for my genre.
  
• Strobe - this is my final idea and probably my favourite. I cant think of any other event that uses strobe lights therefore people will automatically think of rave when they hear the title of my magazine. The word itself sounds good and I think it will be easy to work with when creating the logo.

So i decided that the name I'd stick with is 'Strobe' as I think its the idea out of them all that will be least confused with being from any other genre of magazine. But before i jump right in and go and design one from out of nowhere, I wanted to mainly focus on logos from the genre in which my magazine falls into so that i get a stronger idea of what i should be including in my own design.









Looking at these examples i can gather that designers from my genre of magazine generally use simplistic yet effective designs. Some of them use simple fonts but make it more interesting by incorperating using both capitals and lowercase letters in 'i-D' magazine and the hyphen just adds a bit more charecter and individuality rather than having a plain two letters together. I also like the way 'pop' magazines logo works. It looks like a 3D shape thats been twisted into the shape of the letters and the highlights work to make it look more realistic as there would be light hitting the sides if it were in real life. Stream magazine uses an effective warm colour scheme and i like the way the colours gradually blend into eachother and work together to look professional. Also the quality of the image and the font make it look well made and like there has been work behind making a good logo with a programme such as photoshop that is largely used in the real magazine making industry.

Beginning My Own Magazine

After coming to a decision for the genre of my magazine I had to go back to my research and think about including the conventions of what a magazine in the rave genre should include. These will be;

• Bright, florescent and vibrant colours
• Edited photograph - change the hue/saturation to make it look eye catching
• Single person photograph
• Use pixels/small pictures to fill gaps that relate to and represent the rave scene
• No specific colour scheme
• Special offers or freebies relating to the readers interests
• Exclusive interviews or stories so the reader will want to read my magazine
• A main storyline in a large font to catch the eye of the reader

Contents Page Summary

Contents Page Analysis

DPS Summary

DPS Analysis #2

DPS Analysis #1 -

Cover evaluation

Cover #4 - Super Super magazine

Cover #3 - i-D magazine featuring Bjork

My third magazine cover I chose to analyze was the June 2007 issue of i-D magazine as I am now moving onto looking at magazines that are in the genre in which my magazine will fall into. I would of analyzed more but magazines in this genre are limited. This is my favourite cover out of them all as it has the aspects of a rave magazine that i like, the vibrant colours and the simplistic design of the words and title. i-D magazine is classed as a fashion magazine but has aspects I'd like to incorperate into my own design. I chose this peticular issue of i-D magazine as it was the most colourful one I could find on their archive. It features Bjork and her photograph covers the entire page with no other pictures - just words over the picture. The 'Waaghh' title that covers the picture are in a scattered formation which emphasizes the way you would say 'waaghh' - like something was out of control or going crazy. I think they've chosen this word specifically to link in well with the feeling of the picture and nature of the magazine.

Cover #2 - Alternative Magazine featuring Kat Von D

My second cover is taken from an edition of 'Alternative' magazine from March/April 2008 featuring the famous tattoo artist and model Kat Von D. 'Alternative' magazine links in with my other samples as it is, too, a music magazine but does have a few different distinctive qualities that set it apart from my other choices. I thought by using this type of magazine, it would increase the variation of my research allowing me to get an idea of how different genres vary the layout of out their pages. Kat Von D is the main focus on this cover and fits in with the genre of 'Alternative' as its mainly aimed at fans of gothic tastes and interests - shown by the small slogan in the top right corner 'Alternative music & lifestyle'. Kat Von D portrays herself as such, dressing in dark clothing, her body like a canvas for tattoos and her apparent attitude - all linking in with the dark/gothic image of rebellion and individuality which she freely chooses to follow.

First off, her pose says alot about the emotions in this photo. She is slouched in a lazy manner insinuating she doesn't wish her image to be seen as someone who follows the general conventions of a 'nice' or 'polite' person. She is tilting back her head also, therefore looking down on the reader trying to attempt to look down on people - like she is part of a higher status and class being the 'huge' VIP that she is. In the world of tattooing Kat Von D is seen to be a big deal. Her amazingly detailed tattoos of portraiture she etches on the skin of many people in America is recognized world wide and she knows it, backing up her reason for wanting to look down on other people.

Her outfit, eye make-up, hair and tattoos are all black, a colour associated with death, darkness and just about anything negative. In her photo she purposefully wants to look this way to keep her tough exterior come across as what she really is like deep down. Similarly, the background colour is a slight shade off black - like a very deep turquoise - which makes her entirely blend in with the magazine perhaps trying to let it be known that she fits in perfectly with this scene and she is totally accepted by the media.

The only thing that catches the readers eye in the image is her face which has been purposefully lightened to stand out from the rest of the dark page. One way of perceive this is that she thinks shes almost God like, as big headed as it may seem, from my own personal knowledge I can tell she does think rather highly of herself... Another aspect that could be behind this is that the white face against the black hair looks very gothic and almost corpse like - again fitting in with the target audience of people who live and dress like this.

The font used for the main title of 'Kat Von D' is a font very similar to that of a tattoo linking us back once again to her tattoo origin and reminding us what she has initially become famous for. The subheading tells us about two more projects she is involved with, LA Ink being her own TV tattoo show (after being kicked off the TV show 'Miami Ink' where she starred as the professional tattoist for portrait tattoos, which was abruptly ended by the shop owner Ami James for her cocky and arrogant attitude) and 'Musink' which is a annual festival in America presented by Kat Von D. This plugs her projects to attempt to attract her fans to get involved and spread the word. The word exclusively is used to make people assume the information she gives to this magazine is not obtainable elsewhere therefore they must get this magazine.

Moving on from Kat Von D, we can see across the rest of the cover are scattered some more techniques of persuasion to buy the magazine. In the top left corner there's a fairly small advertisment for a free CD which doesn't really stand out at all and isn't one of the things I noticed at first, in fact it took me a while to spot it. This shows a design flaw made by the editors that maybe their colour scheme doesnt work together very well as it doesn't stand out immediately.

Other persuasive devices are spread over the cover including a 'Missy Malone' pin-up poster probably to draw in the male readers attention. Likewise, another advertisment for the free CD is at the bottom of the page along with an image of the CD that comes free with it, 'Club and gig listings' for people who want to know the latest places to go party and a long lost of bands featuring in the magazine and some include small photos of the bands.

All in all, this magazine cover comes across to me as an amateur attempt with a mish mash of different advertising methods just splayed out in any old fashion, lacking organisation and research into the conventions of a typical magazine cover. I think they put thought into the main image but thats about it, it seems as much has been crammed onto this as possible to grab the optimum amount of buyers as they can get, which to me is too much and would actually make me look for a different and more well set out magazine as the fact it has no structure would make me assume the content is also the same.

Cover #1 - Rolling Stone featuring Ashton Kutcher

This cover was taken from an edition of Rolling Stone magazine published in May 2003. Although I have chosen a rather dated example to use, I thought it would add thoroughness to my research and show how covers have changed with time. Additionally, Rolling Stone is generally classed as a music magazine even though the main focus is more famous for his acting and legendary TV show 'Punk'd' but I thought I would make an exception especially for Ashton Kutcher, for fairly obvious reasons... ('eye candy', much?)

Moving swiftly on, the cover shot of Ashton Kutcher is focused mainly on the top half of his body - maybe even more so than his face - making us instantly feel welcomed and close to him intimatley making the reader feel comfortable to read the article since it now seems relaxed and informal. His body is exposed by the star lifting up his vest top in a nonchalant manner to show off (obviously) his body which will hook female readers onto it once they spot it on a shop shelf. He is already a popular male sex symbol among females of many ages which creates a larger target audience for the magazine. His picture links into the title of his feature being 'Prankster of Love' and by using this wording, it immediately connotates the image of a male shovanistic who enjoys female attention and lures them in with his looks but gives nothing in return, known these days as a 'man-slag'. Further description of his interview uses the phrase ' The Newly Single 'Punk'd Star on the Non-stop Party He Calls Life' links with his picture and suggests his life is filled with partying with girls seeing that he is now on the market and can do what he wants now that he's 'free' from the burden of being in a relationship. In another sense it can also be giving publicity my mentioning the name of his TV show which you could argue isn't essential to add to his description, it actually stands out for differing from the other choices of words which all add to his chosen image which is a typical male with alot of sex appeal to women. Therefore this again widens the audience if someone who watches his show notices the shows name on the cover which may just make them want to buy it if they are fans of Ashton Kutchers show.
Still focusing on the picture but now incorporating the colour scheme with it, you can see his vest top matches the background colour and logo colour - maybe just by fluke or for a reason. On the other hand maybe his vest colour was picked purposefully to link him more to the magazine, suggesting again closeness and acceptance.
The background of the photo of Ashton Kutcher is blurry but I think its an outdoor setting with trees but mostly sky. The outdoors has a classic association with someone who is energetic and enjoys being outside, someone who maybe enjoys keeping fit, playing sports or just enjoying nature. The more obvious reason is that Ashton Kutcher likes to keep fit and get out and about staying busy - linking back to the quote of 'Non-Stop Party He Calls Life' proposes the idea hes never indoors and always busy doing something - which is usually partying. The 'keeping fit' aspect is highlighted more as he is showing off a toned and muscular body in the picture which creates another link with the reasons for the setting he is in.

Other aspects that feature on the cover are descriptions of the main articles in the magazine. These include the small box near the title in the top right of the page. It stands out on the page by the box itself being a stand off bright white against the dull blue background with a thick black border. Apart from the visual devices, it also uses highly influencing words 'EXCLUSIVE HIS FIRST INTERVIEW IN TEN YEARS' anyone who see's this will immediately think 'wow, ten years, I must read this!' this gives the magazine a huge advantage for the fans of Eddie Vedder as this is the only magazine hes featured in for such a long time and they will want to find out ASAP whats been happening for the last ten years, why he's been hidden away for so long and why he's decided to return after all that time.

Underneath that, a feature titled 'ALL GIRL SMACKDOWN - INSIDE THE WORLD OF PRO CAT FIGHTING' this is a device used to now attract male readers rather than female as was shown before with the graphic. This time it uses the image of girls fighting in a 'smackdown' which gives the impression of girls having a scrap against eachother as a competition which wil no doubt provoke male reception.

The last main feature I will focus on is the 'VOODOO ECONOMICS How Bush Is Looting America'. This now jumps from talking about celebrity gossip and music to something political that is linked to society and therefore is aiming at a more sophisticated and mature audience who take an interest in polotics and whats going on in the world - the more serious stuff. It just so happens this has been put next to what appears to be a bandanna sticking out of Ashton Kutchers pocket on the photo which has an American flag print on it. This is being used as a semiotic to link Ashton Kutcher to America maybe suggesting he takes a patriotic approach towards his country and likes to get involved in the know-how, contradicting his previously quoted 'Non Stop Party He Calls Life'.

Overall, I think a fair amount of thought went into arranging this cover to make links between the graphic aspects such as the matching top with the background and joining political stories with it too. It is similar to the idea I will make in my final design for my own magazine cover and has given me more knowledge of not only how, but why magazines use presentational devices to lure in their target readers. They try to reach the demographic by having each headline or visual tactic to coax as many people as possibly to pick up the magazine and spend their hard earned money on it.

My Genre - Why?

In preparation of beginning the task in hand of designing my own magazine, I thought a clever action to take would be to delve into researching the techniques that magazines of each genre of music use to appeal to their target audience.

It has became apparent to me as I started thinking over some magazine names and their intended genre that rock dominates at the moment. There's also a great list of magazines available to us nowadays more than ever, maybe because bands are finding it easy to make it big with new big influences of media such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo where bands can upload their tracks and create virtual online fan bases without ever having to be played on the radio therefore not even accepted by today's culture. This can lead to bands eventually being brought into the mainstream of the music industry just by a website. Maybe this is the reason the amount of music magazines is increasing, music lovers want to know about the fresh and new non-mainstream bands that are out there on the world wide web but need some slight guidance of which artists are just wannabe trash and which artists could be the next big thing.

After Googling magazines of the main genres of rock, pop and dance, the world of teen magazines took me back to when I read them, and made me realize they contain total drivel because they know their audience are gullible pre-teens who believe anything that they read will make them 'normal' to fit in with school friends and other girls their age. I think I'll pass on including any element of this in my magazine creation. Shortly after, I decided to take out my iPod and look through the genres. Weirdly enough I came across 'rave' and I thought "hmm, this could be interesting". Also, I knew from watching other peoples proposals they were either doing rock, pop or R&B so I thought I'd venture from the sheep and focus on something totally different like a bright and colourful rave magazine, which I do know a fair bit about from hearing about it and seeing it in the media. It's incorporated with fashion too, now that more and more people are joining the scene and wanting places that specialise in the apparel and accessories.
I noticed there wasn't much more choice out there for people with any other taste than rock so I thought I'd help them out and move on from the cliche.

It is now clear to me that rock is dominating the media. Not just music magazines or on the radio, but in the fashion industry too. Since more rock bands are about we see how they dress, then celebrities dress as they do, who we then see snap shots of in glossy magazines then before we know it the fashionistas are making clothes for the high street that they know we'll want so we can look like those celebrities we so dearly look up to for image guidance. Before long its taking over and now if you don't wear clothes influenced by rock, you aren't part of the norm. You aren't hip. You're not trendy. It's a vicious cycle which has kicked off and its becoming hard to put and end to. It's clear rock is thriving at this period in time.

On delving into further investigation, I considered maybe taking ideas from my research to stand out from the norm, to do something different and give recignition to the rave scene and prove its not just about weirdos that wear tye-dye, take pills and fling themselves around in a club. On looking at examples of not only magazine covers, but online websites for fans of the music, I knew I'd have to research alot more to grasp the less obvious the key features that I'll need to include to make my magazine conventional. But for know, I just know to keep it colourful and quirky.

My final decision has been made, I will begin to research magazines influenced by rave and techno, as vague and mysterious this genre may be to me. I intend analyze it to widen my research and maybe discover some of the more effective presentational devices they include despite the fact it's not exactly the kind of music I have a liking for. Despite this, I will make sure to make the conventional expectation of a magazine, perfect for a raver.

Main Music Magazine - First Things First..

On beginning the main task, I must initially formulate a basic plan of how I will carry out the whole of the task step by step. These steps will be as follows:

• Research existing magazine covers
• Research my target audience
• First rough draft of my cover, contents and double page spread
• Plan a photo shoot
• Final article creations

However, before i can begin any step the entire project, I must select a genre for my magazine. I will chose a genre that I regularly purchase and read and obviously take an interest in. As a result, this will give me an advantage on knowing the aspects of what my design should consist of, how it should be laid out and the formatting of the presentational devices.

Final draft for school magazine cover and contents page

Magazine cover and contents drafts

Research and Planning

Before I could start anything on the preliminary task I decided I'd carry out some research first into magazine designs from other schools, colleges or universities from around the world. Taking examples from other countries such as America or Australia could help to widen my research and give me a better understanding of how different techniques are used in different ways to suit a certain audience.
I used the search engine Google to begin looking for other school magazines as it's probably the easiest and quickest way to find a wide variety of covers from anywhere in the world. I used the image search first just searching for 'school magazine' and clicked on one from a school called St. Louises Comprehensive College in Belfast.
Their cover is as follows;

Upon first looking at it, it is clearly a very basic design. It has a plain main colour with a simple layout and not much imagination has gone into the creation of it. It has dreary colours and fonts that dont really tell you much about the school from a glance. It appears that it comes across as quite a bland and boring school and wouldn't be an exaple of what I would put onto my school front cover. The only possible thing I could consider using is the way the colour scheme works together and the writing clearly stands out from the background.
I continued searching and decided to find an example from outside of the UK and looked at Harvard Univeristy's magazine as it's a high up and well known university.

You can tell immediately that their magazine is extremely professional. They use a high quality image, edited well and photographed well, and probably taken by a student that attends the univeristy. The font colour for the title matches the colour of the lizard but still stands out from the background. The font also connotates the feeling of sophistication and high class - which is what Harvard is renound for. This is a skill id like to apply to my school magazine to make it look as real as possible and not just something anybody could make on Microsoft Publisher.
My third and final example was taken from an Australian university magazine which is the Univeristy of Melbourne.

This magazine also looks very professional as the Harvard one did, but differs in many ways. This cover uses a much less colourful main picture as its black and white, but compensates for it by putting a colourful banner underneath the magazine title and subheadings. Its title cleverly highlights the letters 'our' in 'Melbourne' which makes it sound like everybodies included in the making of the magazine. They have also created a logo for the university which is used next to the title but isn't very prominant.
Overall these covers have given me some good ideas of what i should put onto my school from cover but i probably won't make one upto the sophisticated standard of the major universities.


Now that I have looked into the conventions of other magazines I can begin planning my own.
Firstly, the most important feature of it would probably be the name. I went through a few ideas but ended up chosing the simplest one of them all "Monkey News" knowing many of the younger less mentally privileged students we have wouldn't question the contents of the magazine and they would clearly realise that the word 'Monkey' being short for Monkseaton and the word 'News' obviously is there because the magazine will be filled with breaking news about the school.
As for the story lines I decided to definitely include something about the brand new school that is currently being built and mention something about its progress on the front cover. Also I would put in a headline to go with my main picture I had already taken which was a slightly mug shot looking photo of a male student at the school. I thought I'd probably put some high profile scandal story to get readers attracted as theres nothing people love more than a juicy bit of gossip about someone they may know as a friend, acquaintance or student. I thought another good idea for a story would be something to do with the head teacher Dr. Kelley as everyone is familiar with him and yet again would be interested in a story involving him.

After gathering some ideas for the story lines I decided I needed to chose the colour scheme but I thought rather than just include my own opinion and ideas I wanted to make a questionnaire asking other peoples preferences about the colour scheme, story lines and the layout of the magazine.

Preliminary Task Outline

Missing the first few weeks of this course I can't carry out this task in as much detail as others, so I will just research in order to make a cover and leave out the contents page. So before I could even start any work on the main music magazine task, I began my first task of creating a cover for a school magazine. It needed to be constructed using image editing programmes and it had to feature a photograph of an actual student as the main focus and texts that would appeal to the audience.
I established a list of tasks consisting of the stages I should follow;

1. Research into existing covers
2. Planning the cover
3. Rough drafts
4. Audience
5. Final draft
6. Take photograph
8. Edit image and put into final design